Variety says the producer obtained a two-year extension with ABC Studios. He will remain executive producer of the show for an eighth and ninth season. Writer and co-exec producer Bob Daily will also remain with the show through the future seasons.

But although the show is assured for four more years, the housewives are still not.

The core cast members - Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria Parker, Marcia Cross, and Felicity Huffman - are only committed through the 2010-11 season, the program's seventh.